Art-induced lucid dream sleepover at the Freud Museum, feat. Dr Keith Hearne
A couple of weeks ago I went to "d.REM, a Dream Sensorium": a sleepover at the Freud Museum (in Freud's actual house) in London featuring talks from the following speakers:
lucid dream discoverer (in psychology lab terms) Dr Keith Hearne
lucid dream teacher and death doula Tree Carr
perfumer Odette Toilette
artist (projector/lights) Rebecca Salvadori
artist and filmographer Carla MacKinnon
glass sculptor Camilla Emson
soundmaker and energy sculptor Lee Berwick
storyteller Mikael Oberg
The installations were set up throughout the museum's many rooms, and we milled around with cakes and tea until the panel discussion with Dr Keith Hearne, Tree Carr, and the artists.
After having followed Awake and Away on Instagram, it was nice to finally meet Dan and Sarah in person and hear about their upcoming lucid dreaming retreat in Wales.
The overnighters stayed past ten pm, when Tree Carr led a dream tea ceremony out in the garden. It was a warm night and the owls were hooting in the trees around us as Tree gave a talk on lucid dreaming and lucid dream-inducing plants such as calea zacatechichi. We drank tea made from this plant before going to bed in the museum.
REM-Fit kindly provided very comfy mattresses and blankets, which were laid out in various rooms. I thought I'd be 'smart' and choose a small room with only four others - less chance of snoring, I thought wrongly (despite the 'Snore and Peace' tea on offer). I finally fell asleep around 2 a.m. and managed to have a lucid dream. The calea zacatechichi, as Tree said, induced very intense hypnagogic images as I was dozing off: a close-up cartoon of woodworking that transformed into an immersive dream.
In the morning, we reconvened in the garden for a cup of refreshing guayasa tea (which energizes you like coffee but is less harsh on the stomach), shared our lucid dreams, and chatted leisurely before leaving for home.
Many thanks to Allegra Shorto for curating this event.